I'm just trying to ride the wave of popularity!

Chapter 243 Earthquake in Chinese Cinema!

"Look at these lunatics! They don't care about the movie at all!"

"A private event? Ha, so you're saying it's all about vote rigging?"

"I propose that Zhou Yang be blacklisted!"

On May 21, at noon, China Movie Channel broadcast a special program focusing on the phenomenon of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Rings" surpassing 210 million RMB at the box office.

The program invited several famous directors for interviews, but it turned into a rally to denounce Zhou Yang and his fans.

Chen Kai, who had been holding back his anger, finally exploded on the eve of the premiere of the movie "Extreme".

Facing the media, he vehemently criticized Zhou Yang, expressing his deep regret: "When we were filming 'Farewell My Concubine,' audiences went to the theater with reverence for art, savoring every scene repeatedly... And now? These young girls buy tickets just to photoshop Zhou Yang's picture onto the ticket stubs, posting it on forums, QQ, and various social media platforms to support Zhou Yang's film, but in reality, they don't even know what the film is about..."

"This goes beyond the film itself! It's an insult to cinema!"

"..."

As Chen Kai launched his attack, more and more directors joined in his support:
"A box office miracle? That's called mass hysteria! Do you know what's most absurd? Some fans traveled all the way from Hangzhou to Beijing just for a Zhou Yang merchandise poster, and waited outside the cinema for three days!"

"Zhou Yang's photo album posters are being sold for 5000 yuan a copy, and it only has a few photos! Movies? Movies are supposed to be 24 frames per second, but now they've all become tools for the fan economy!"

"Movies? What are movies? They're truths at 24 frames per second, and now they've all become tools for fans. That bastard Zhou Yang has torn up the dignity that Chinese cinema has built up over the past twenty years and fed it to the dogs!"

"Moreover, this phenomenon has set a bad precedent!"

"First, this kind of traffic-driven economy is destroying the industry! Truly good movies need time to mature and be savored, not like these ticket-buying movies where the data is all fake!"

"Secondly, if everyone does it this way, then what's the point of making movies?"

"It would be a disaster if this kind of clown, jumping around like that, could enter the film industry!"

"..."

Accompanying the broadcast on the [Movie Channel].

This was accompanied by protests from one fifth-generation director after another.

A joint statement signed by filmmakers has surfaced online: 12 directors from the fifth generation, including Chen Kai, have collectively signed an open letter entitled "On Resisting Irrational Fandom Behavior." Although Zhou Yang is not named, the statement that "some artists condone their fans disrupting market order" has sparked widespread online discussion…

……

Chen Kai, as the leading figure, finally made headlines with "Extreme".

The trending topics list changed within half an hour.

#Twenty directors jointly boycott Zhou Yang (explosive)#
#Chen Kai says blockbuster movies are a cancer on the industry#
#The premiere of "Extreme" went out of control#
Clicking on the topic, what comes into view is a special feature produced urgently by the movie channel, titled "Where is the Road for Chinese Cinema?"

In the footage, Chen Kai angrily confronts the camera, saying, "Some people are turning movie theaters into star-chasing events; this is a desecration of art!"

The comments section has long since become a battlefield...

[User @ZhouYang's Girlfriend (outside the entertainment circle)]: The old man has lost his temper? "Farewell My Concubine" is seven years old! In these seven years, have you, Director Chen, made any new works?

[User @MovieLovers]: Support Director Chen! I went to a private screening of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Rings" yesterday, and the whole theater was filled with people taking pictures; nobody actually watched the movie!
[User @晴晴要努力]: I support Director Chen! I've disliked this bastard who's just trying to ride the wave of popularity for a long time. Finally, someone is telling the truth! What's the difference between booking a whole theater for ticket rigging and lip-syncing?
……

On the internet, Zhou Yang's fans and director Chen Kai's supporters immediately started tearing each other apart...

Social networking sites such as MovieHome, QuickBlog, and Weibo instantly became the main battleground for this online feud...

Even many authoritative media outlets, critics, and film critics in the industry have joined the fray, creating a huge buzz!

According to publicly available data from major websites!

Every ten seconds, nearly twenty abusive posts are flooded the internet...

Criticize Zhou Yang, support Zhou Yang; criticize the fifth-generation directors, support the fifth-generation directors...

Overnight, the whole city was in an uproar!

But Zhou Yang, who usually loves to ride the wave of trending topics, was unusually quiet this time.

Neither refuting nor clarifying anything...

Zhou Yang's silence only fueled the anger of more directors and filmmakers, who then launched even more scathing attacks!
Chen Kai even arrived three hours before the premiere of "Extreme"!

They even criticized Zhou Yang in front of the media and demanded that Zhou Yang apologize to all filmmakers in the Chinese film industry!
Zhou Yang and Xuanshi Entertainment have still not responded!
....................................

10:5 AM on May 22nd.

A red carpet was laid out outside the Yanjing Grand Theatre, and the premiere of "Extreme" was a star-studded affair.

Two hours before the movie started, thousands of movie fans had already gathered outside the theater.

Holding up fluorescent signs that read "Eastern Fantasy Epic," some even wore costumes resembling those of the "Kunlun Slave" from the film, their faces beaming with excitement in the sunlight.

Wiping sweat from his brow, the cinema manager exclaimed to the media, "Director Chen's fans are different from Zhou Yang's group of young girls; they are people who truly understand film!"

On both sides of the red carpet, more than fifty media outlets stood ready with their cameras and microphones.

Old Wang, a reporter from Film Weekly, stared at the security checkpoint and muttered to himself, "I heard that Ye Tianlong is the art director for this film, and Jiu Rang is the composer..."

Before he finished speaking, screams suddenly erupted at the end of the red carpet. Chen Kai and his team of lead actors walked slowly towards the red carpet. He was wearing his signature black Zhongshan suit and looked like an emperor on a royal pilgrimage in the flashing lights.

"Director Chen! How does it feel to have spent seven years honing this project?"

"Mr. Zhang Jian! As the first Korean actor to participate in a major Chinese film..."

"Mr. Sanada! Do you think this performance can surpass 'Saibei'?" "Director Chen, do you feel any pressure premiering this time alongside 'The Disaster'?"

"..."

The lead actors smiled and waved but did not reply, except for Chen Kai, who stood in front of the giant poster.

The gold lettering on the poster, "3.7 million investment," gleamed brightly under the searchlight.

He was excited and full of vigor, as if he had returned to the scene when filming "The Overlord": "This is not a movie, but a coming-of-age ceremony for the Chinese film industry. This is not a 'bad movie' that has been fabricated, but a movie that tells a story with the utmost sincerity and down-to-earth approach!"

The fans inside applauded wildly upon hearing this, and several female students wearing "Extreme" headdresses were even moved to tears.

They opened the support booklet they had made overnight and showed the reporter the handwritten lines inside: "True speed is invisible, like the rising wind and clouds, the sunset and the moonrise..." The title page prominently featured Chen Kai's acceptance speech at Cannes in 1997: "We want to let Chinese aesthetics conquer the world."

Amidst waves of excitement, "Extreme" finally premiered!

Chen Kai is one of the representative figures of the five generations of Chinese directors!
As a film that has been seven years in the making...

This film boasts an astonishing investment of 3.7 million!

Countless Chinese filmmakers are full of hope for this film; some even regard it as China's first battle against Hollywood!
Chen Kai, who was also very ambitious about this film, resolutely chose to release it on the same day as the Hollywood film "Disaster" despite being persuaded by everyone at Tianyu Media!
His ambition even made him extremely arrogant. At the premiere, he said more than once, "A good movie is not afraid of any opponent!"

Of course, besides that, he also wanted to prove his influence!

In the early 2002s, the Chinese film market began its commercial transformation. Li Zhengtao's "Qin" successfully ushered in the era of domestic blockbusters, and his subsequent "Ren Zai Jianghu" continued to exert its influence, showing signs of becoming the leading figure in Chinese cinema. Chen Kai, as a representative of the fifth generation of directors, was influenced by this and felt the competitive pressure of commercial blockbusters. He also longed to prove his box office appeal with "Extreme Challenge"...

however……

The greater the ambition, the greater the disappointment!

No one expected it.

When the premiere of "Extreme" ended, it did not receive a burst of enthusiastic applause.

Instead, the audience looked completely bewildered...

This movie is completely incomprehensible to the audience!
This film is incredibly artistically rich; the script is so grand, spanning time, race, and mythology...

There are just too many elements, and Chinese moviegoers with no artistic background are a bit confused by the plot!
Besides, the forced juxtaposition of Eastern and Western elements, and the accumulation of various contents, lacks any internal logic...

……

Early in the morning of June 5.

The film "Extreme" grossed 2700 million RMB on its opening day, a performance that can be described as a "miracle" in the history of Chinese cinema!
It's a million yuan more than the 2600 million yuan grossed by the Hollywood film "Disaster" at the same time!

However, compared to its astonishing box office performance, this film, touted as "China's first fantasy film," has not received particularly good reviews.

On the internet, apart from some "professional" film critics' awkward praise, the rest of the posts were completely baffling, and even various sarcastic voices appeared on [Kuaibo].

Seeing the screen full of mockery, Chen Kai, completely lacking the composure expected of a fifth-generation director, instead launched into a tirade of insults in front of the media.

He claimed that the movie was definitely being maliciously flooded with negative reviews!

Although he mentioned "instigating a certain young director," everyone knew that Director Chen was indirectly criticizing Zhou Yang...

Zhou Yang's fans were naturally outraged and immediately launched a barrage of angry criticism against Chen Kai!

Chen Kai did not back down; on the contrary, he became even more outrageous, even publicly calling on relevant departments to remove this "cancer in the Chinese film industry" in front of the media!

On the morning of May 23, the matter escalated and became increasingly heated online, but Zhou Yang still did not respond!

On May 24, amidst the uproar, "Extreme" suffered a sharp drop in box office revenue due to its poor word-of-mouth. The film grossed 27 million RMB on its opening day, but only 15 million RMB on the second day!
The Hollywood film "Disaster" defied the trend and grossed 3000 million RMB at the box office!
On May 25th, the box office of "Extreme" plummeted below 10 million RMB, and the online ridicule of the film came one wave after another...

On May 26, the occupancy rate of "Extreme" nationwide was less than 20%, and its box office performance was extremely poor, reaching only 6 million RMB...

On May 27th, the box office of "Extreme" plummeted to 4 million, and [Movie House] gave the film a low score of 5.1, which is even below the passing grade!
On May 28th... "Extreme" only grossed 1 million RMB in a single day, and theaters ultimately had to negotiate to pull the film from theaters early...

This film, which cost 3.7 million RMB to produce, only grossed 6200 million RMB at the box office. Forget about competing with Hollywood blockbusters! It's a complete financial disaster!
..............................

Why did "Extreme" fail?

Why is the movie rated so low?

"I don't believe this movie is that bad!"

"It's absolutely because certain popular directors are using their films to attack Chinese cinema!"

"Yes, this behavior is extremely egregious! It has seriously impacted the ecosystem of Chinese cinema. If it's not stopped, then nobody should make movies anymore; let him make them all!"

"Yes, I agree!"

"Yes, boss, I know you've never interfered with the market, but now, this person has ruined it so badly!"

"..."

5 month 29 day.

Ten o'clock in the morning.

Relevant departments of China Film Group.

Chen Kai stormed into the relevant departments of China Film Group, accompanied by a large group of directors.

(End of this chapter)